Watch us grow!
Uncle Jason is in town for work and he was able to meet us in Alameda for dinner. Yay! We drove to a Korean BBQ restaurant nearby and Mama sat in the backseat with the kids. WEEE!!
We had a tasty meal and some good family time.
We love these photos of the kids with their Uncle Jason.
This boy turned TWO today. Yikes. He’s really turned into a little boy with a big personality. His birthday dinner was at La Penca Azul and he did a great job making (and eating) his own birthday burrito.
We also got him a cupcake and sang to him. He loved the singing and blew out the candles with a little help from big sis.
He also tried the cake this year but still said “don’t like it” and handed his half to big sis.
Instead, he opted for ice cream and demolished it. In addition to ice cream, he’s become very fond of berries and peaches. He enjoys a banana, Hawaiian bread, and yogurt for breakfast at school. He’s broken out of his hate for carrots and will eat them cooked or raw now. Broccoli and green beans are still his favorite veggies. He also prefers salty over sweet and meat over carbs. However, he does love a big bowl of rice just like his Dada and can slurp down a handful of noodles like Mama.
He’s talking a bunch and understands so much more now. He LOVES to sing at the top of his lungs and doesn’t have any volume control. Baby Beluga, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, and Brown Bear are his favorite hits at the moment with Itsy Bitsy and Baa Baa Black Sheep coming in close. He can count to about 13 in English and Spanish and will identify all the colors in the rainbow. He’s loving pink right now because he wants to be just like his sister.
Peanut picked up the scooter much earlier than his sister – mostly because it was available to him and he has plenty of kids to learn from. He’s also quite the risk taker on the playground and has learned how to sit and hold onto a regular swing without letting go and falling off.
His favorites: Mickey Mouse, Paw Patrol, Octonauts, and animals. Much of this was greatly influenced by what his sister is totally into right now. He enjoys coloring and cutting with scissors. He can use utensils, loves to practice cutting with a knife, and he’s very close to using chopsticks.
He loves his family with his whole heart and this includes his uncles, aunties, grandparents, and cousins. He recognizes them and can name them too.
I love his sense of humor. I love his hugs. I love his gusto for life in general. This boy usually has an opinion about everything and hopefully that will get him far in life.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Peanut! We love you to pieces and keep us on our toes every waking minute.
We took Yai to the Art & Wine Faire today on Park Street. It was an easy ride on the 21 Bus and it dropped us off right at the entrance to the faire.
There were kiddie rides in one section and they had so much fun.
Janie went on the ferris wheel with Mama and Peanut got really upset because he wanted to go too.
So, he got to ride with Mama next and was over the moon.
This evening, we had the whole family together for dinner to celebrate Peanut’s 2nd birthday.
We had quite a spread of food and Peanut was determined to pick up his food with chopsticks.
We had ice cream cake for him, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” and Big Sis helped him blow out the candles.
Our little boy doesn’t like cake so we got him a cake made with strawberry ice cream and white cake.
He tasted the cake one time and then demolished the ice cream half of his slice.
Ankong also hooked him up with a second slice!
We also managed to get all 6 cousins together in one photo.
It was a fun night with the family all together again.
Oh and Peanut got a giant set of Tinkertoys from Auntie Jia. Yay!
Our Little Janie graduated preschool today!! It took place at the Gap Corporate Office and all their graduation caps were lined up in order for the ceremony.
Here is Janie’s cap complete with a rainbow, footsteps, and a flower.
She entered the room with her class and was so proud of herself.
She was also excited to see Mama made it across the bay to see her.
The class recited a few poems and sang some songs for their parents. It was very cute.
Here is their Acorn Song. She sings this one in the bathtub a lot.
Then Miss Tiffany (one of Janie’s favorite teachers) called each of them up to get their certificate. Janie opted for a hug instead.
Our Baby Girl is heading to Kindergarten!! Look out world!
At the reception afterward, we got to catch up with Miss Sharla, her teacher from last year’s Alligator Class.
She also got a photo with Miss Elizabeth, the director of the Whale Class. She was often at school early in the morning to greet Janie when she arrived. Sometimes Janie was the first one to arrive at school and got to follow Elizabeth around as she unlocked doors and prepped the classroom.
This is Tiffany, one of Janie’s favorite teachers. She gave Janie the nickname “Cricket”.
After the reception, we headed down Embarcadero for dinner.
It was the perfect day for some graduation photos!!
No trip to Monterey would be complete without a visit to the aquarium.
We got there early enough to avoid the crowds and the kids had fun exploring.
We had such nice weather today! Mama even spotted whales out in the distance.
We beat the lunch crowd and had a meal at Cannery Row Brewing Company up the street. Peanut napped and Janie drew the sardines that she saw.
We also headed back to the aquarium after lunch to see more of our favorite exhibits.
This one was a big hit with both kids. It’s funny that Janie was terrified of this just two years ago.
We went to the Oakland Zoo today with some tickets Mama bought on Groupon.
The first thing Janie wanted to do was ride the Sky Ride.
Mama and Janie rode the gondola and saw Dada and Peanut down below (bottom right).
Janie posed with a giraffe and Peanut posed with an elephant.
Both kids posed with the A’s mascot and then tried to get a photo with a zebra in the distance.
This river otter was very interested in Peanut – it was probably trying to get his snack cup.
Peanut rode the slide in the Children’s Zoo and then went down for a nap.
While he slept, Big Sister got to go on a few rides.
We flew home today it was an empty flight! Yay!
Peanut got his own seat and Dada and Janie got an empty middle seat for their snacks and drinks.
This afternoon, we went to Alice’s house to meet Baby Leela for the first time. The kids got a show and tell from Yai.
Mama got to snuggle Cousin Leela but Peanut was not happy about it.
The girls were very happy to see each other and played together relatively well despite a couple of arguments.
This family has grown by one more human and it’s just gonna get more fun!
We’ve had these glasses for over a month now and each time we put them on him, he closes his eyes, cries, and pulls them off. This afternoon, while he was watching Octonauts with Janie, I put them on and kept them on long enough to look through them. Surprisingly, he didn’t get upset and kept them on! In fact, he kept them on for at least 30 minutes and seemed to find the cartoon a little more interesting than usual. You could see his eyes moving left and right on the TV screen as if he had never seen so clearly before. Likely, that’s been the case.
Mama showed him what he looked like in Mama’s phone and he took a selfie of himself.
He looks so adorable in his glasses and they fit him really well too. There’s an elastic band in the back that keeps it snug on his face. Unfortunately, the lenses fog up sometimes when he’s running around or crying.
Later this evening, he wore them again and this time it was for almost an hour.
He ran around, climbed, and played “treasure hunt” with his big sister with the glasses on the whole time!
We took this picture together to mark this milestone for our little boy.